3ds Max 3ds Max with V-Ray and Unreal Engine

In the digital world, the currents haven’t been as course-altering as they have in the past few years. With the press toward AI and computer advancements, tasks that took weeks now take minutes. It’s difficult not to see this trend continue. In the meantime, users grasp to workflows that will allow them to highlight their understanding of these advancements and demonstrate the capability to produce more and create it faster. One of those workflows that I’ll be discussing is using 3ds Max with V-Ray and Unreal Engine. ➲

TRADITION Visualization is also one of the few industries that might take advantage of 3ds Max most comprehensively. To produce quality content, users need to understand several of the software’s more advanced features related to modeling, materials, animation, lighting, cameras, pre and post-production options. Add to that understanding V-Ray, architectural and environmental content, and CAD learning this can take a considerable amount of time and investment. After all this effort, what was the end game, though? A short animated clip of some buildings, a voice-over, a few still shots for a website or magazine that few see and even less will remember

3ds Max 2020 PRODUCT FOCUS (relatively speaking). The industry has to press forward, and this is where Unreal comes in. PRESSING FORWARD In the last several months, Epic Games Unreal introduced the Datasmith importer. The importer allows users working with 3ds Max and V-Ray to export data into Unreal Engine, which allows us to take advantage of some powerful features inside Unreal Engine. I’ll discuss a cursory overview of the workflow in this article. I’ll skip the installation instructions, but generally speaking, you’ll need to create an Epic Games account, install the Epic Games Launcher, which will allow you to install Unreal Engine/Studio and the Datasmith importer. To export content from 3ds Max, Revit, or Sketchup, you can download the plugin available on Unreal Engine’s website here: https://www.unrealengine.com/enUS/studio/downloads. After this, you’ll find the Datasmith file format available in your export options for 3ds Max.

When you launch the Unreal Engine, you can select a blank scene or begin with a blueprint. In this example, we’ll begin with the First Person blueprint displayed in Figure 1.

Insert Figure 2 – Outliner

Insert Figure 3 – Occlusion

Starting with this option will provide the basic elements for firstperson interactive content. For this example, I’m going to use the default scene it created but delete out the components I don’t want or need. See Figure 2 for the remaining elements in the outliner.

Next, select the Datasmith icon and import your 3ds Max scene. I can’t go over every aspect of Unreal Engine, but I’ll highlight a few of the primary features that make using 3ds Max with Unreal Engine so powerful.

Templates – The templates displayed in Figure 1 allow us to convert our 3ds Max scenes to interactive content using the options available with Unreal Engine. Some of those include AR, VR, First, and 3rd Person presentations.

PostProcessVolume – The PostProcessVolume is used to apply various camera effects to what a user sees. Here we control several components that are important to creating an appealing image. In particular, this is where we can add ambient occlusion, toe/slope effects to our camera, exposure settings, color grading, and more. For occlusion example, see Figure 3.

Tip: Ensure your PostProcessVolume setting is unbounded by selecting the “Infinite Extent (Unbound)” box.

Packaging – Last but not least Unreal Engine allows us to package our projects for a variety of applications, including IOS/Android phones, windows operating systems, HTML, and more. See Figure 4.

Brian Chapman is an Autodesk Authorized Developer, Digital Artist, and a CAD Applications Specialist for an engineering firm located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Brian shares tips and tricks at procad.blog with a portfolio of digital artwork and renderings at emptypawn.com. Brian’s email is procadman@pro-cad.net

You do a lot for your company. You track down new technology. You devise new ways to use tech and wrestle it in to usable shape for others. You help improve production and speed this tools, tips and tricks that save time. You do a lot. ➲

WRITE IT DOWN I journal at work. It is not an extensive work of prose, just a bulleted list. I make short notes in a Word doc on every major event that happens in my day at work. I keep track of conversations with people. Discussions at meetings. I note phone calls that I make and even emails that I send or receive.

It may be hard for others to remember what you do, but you would be surprised at what may slip your mind. When so many things happen, it is easy for some to slip past without much bravado that might anchor it in your mind. Things often change slowly or are introduced over a long period of time and dates might get fuzzy. Fits and starts may confuse the timeline of progress. You do so much and things change so often that you might even need to remind yourself about past troubleshooting, research, remediation, fixes and improvements. So what can you do to keep a record of all the things that pass through your hands? I suggest that you write it down. I start each day by opening the file and I keep it open all day long, adding information as I go. Sometimes I fill it out at the end of the day, or even the next morning if I am really busy, but I try to keep up. I write things down as soon as I have time so that the memories are still fresh. I use it to jog my memory, not as verbatim notes. I do sometimes write down exact words in quotes if they are significant.

electronically. Before that I kept it in a memo pad. Others use calendaring tools and hardcopy journals still. I see that in meetings all the time. Folks have

It is not a “To Do” list. It is a “To Done” list. It is a list of what has happened. I use other tools for my task list. It is a record of who I talked to, what I did and what events happened related to my day, not a long list of details. I record decisions. Just enough to remind me of an event. I do put in names and phone numbers, website links, company names, etc.

When someone asks me about an event or a decision. If I want to refresh my memory or review the situation, I go back to my Journal. I have often gone back and found entries related to issues that have come up with dates and times and such. It helps me verify what has happened and what information related to the topic. I have had many people comment on their appreciation for my ability to find the date, time, event that they are talking about.

Now to the subject of this article. Are you able to outline what you have done for the firm and folks at the firm in the past? The Journal will help you do just that. By having a running list of things that happened at work, I can go back and review them as warranted. I do this on several occasions.

FACT CHECKER I sometimes need to go back and reconstruct a conversation or a timeline. When people want to know what happened, I can rebuild the timeline of what came first then second and so on. If someone wants to know when we started using a tech product, I can find it. If they need to know how long we have been using a tool, I can tell them (and I do not have to guess). When there is a decision that needs review, I can go back and find out who talked about it and when. It really allows me to verify the sometimes faulty information that might be out there clouding the waters of a topic. I appreciate that. I also may go back and find that I am wrong, and I admit that to folks when that happens.

COLUMN TRACKING ACCOMPLISHMENTS When a milestone comes around, like a new year or a company event or it is my time to get with the boss for my evaluation, I typically go back and pull out the major milestone events and projects that me or my team have completed. It is amazing how much I forget about things that we have done. I bring the list with me and show others (like my boss) to revisit the accomplishments that we have made. It is not “What have you done for me lately.” It is about what you have done for them and the firm. Tech Manager

I also use this list of accomplishments to invigorate my team or office as I remind them of what they have achieved. As I go through the list, I thank them for what they have done and remind them that I am proud of their efforts. I often hear “Oh yeah, I forgot about that”. When I hear that, I know that my journaling is providing positive impact to our firm and I invigorates me to keep doing it.

When others forget all the things you do, your journal helps remind them. You become invisible when everything is working right. So you need to remind others of your positive impact on the firm. When you do that, maintain a humble, service oriented attitude. You subtly mention the things you have done in the past and nudge others into remembrance.

NOT FOOL PROOF I do find that I am unable to find details in my journal that I need. I go back and search and find nothing, or I find gaps in the record. This reminds me that I am not as conscientious as I think I might be. I can’t explain why I leave off what might be key information like start dates, completion dates, team members names or important details.

By keeping a record of what happened, you stand a better chance of getting your timelines and history right. You encourage others by reminding them of what they have completed. Writing it down is good, reviewing it is an enhancement and keeping that record over the long haul gives you a reference point when questions arise.

Mark Kiker has more than 25 years of hands-on experience with technology. He is fully versed in every area of management from deployment planning, installation, and configuration to training and strategic planning. As an internationally known speaker and writer, he is a returning speaker at Autodesk University since 1996. Mark is currently serving as Director of IT for SIATech, a non-profit public charter high school focused on dropout recovery. He maintains two blog sites, www.caddmanager.com and www.bimmanager.com.